Has Stack v Dowden helped cohabiting couples whose relationships have broken down? Elizabeth Hicks and Sital Amin report
In 2001 there were 10 million married couples in England and Wales and over two million cohabiting couples. The law on resolving disputes between married couples is set out in the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. The law on resolving property disputes between cohabiting couples arises from a detailed examination of complex trust principles and on resolving issues relating to personal property from contract law and principles of tort.
Although the Law Commission published a consultation paper, Cohabitation: The Financial Consequences of Relationship Breakdown, in May 2006 and the conclusions and final report are expected later this summer, it will not contain a draft Bill and—due to the apparent lack of funding on this issue—it is highly unlikely that there will be any changes in the law relating to cohabiting couples in the foreseeable future.
Many practitioners hoped that the House of Lords would take the opportunity to give much needed guidance in the quantification of a party’s interest in a property, where there is no express
